12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST

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Player(s) of the Game

Paul George | 28 PTS (10-25 FG, 4-9 3P), 14 REB
1
17%
Jerami Grant | 15 PTS (7-13 FG), 8 REB, 3 BLK
3
50%
Steven Adams | 17 PTS (8-11 FG), 7 REB
1
17%
Terrance Ferguson | 8 PTS (3-9 FG)
1
17%
Russell Westbrook | 21 PTS (6-17 FG), 8 REB, 9 AST, 4 STL
0
No votes
Dennis Schroder | 10 PTS (5-11 FG), 6 AST
0
No votes
Other (specify below)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 6

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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#141 » by spearsy23 » Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:01 pm

slick_watts wrote:
spearsy23 wrote:I don't think harden being easier to build around than the really good but not great version of Westbrook we've seen this year is controversial. On the other have we do currently have a better record despite being built in what would seem to be a sub optimal way.


it's defense. rockets suck at it.

i'm just always struck by how much harden can get out of himself and his team offensively with such little 'effort'. if that makes sense. even westbrook at his best is like a round house kick to the throat.

Harden is definitely part of that defensive problem though
“If you're getting stops and you're making threes and the other team's not scoring, that's when you're going to see a huge point difference there,” coach Billy Donovan said.
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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#142 » by thekaoswithin » Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:53 pm

slick_watts wrote:
spearsy23 wrote:I don't think harden being easier to build around than the really good but not great version of Westbrook we've seen this year is controversial. On the other have we do currently have a better record despite being built in what would seem to be a sub optimal way.


it's defense. rockets suck at it.

i'm just always struck by how much harden can get out of himself and his team offensively with such little 'effort'. if that makes sense. even westbrook at his best is like a round house kick to the throat.


The handles and the shot appear effortless, so we as viewers think he's not working hard.

If any of you have actually tried doing what Harden does, it's just as taxing as Russ's full force assaults on the basket. Russ has also showed similar handles before but it's not possible to thrive on it without the immense threat of the 3ball behind it.
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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#143 » by RalphSampsonJr » Wed Dec 26, 2018 6:58 pm

Pillendreher wrote:
NaturalThunder wrote:
Raijin wrote:
He didn't dominate Adams at all.

Nene played all 17 of his minutes against Adams.

In the 11 minutes Capela played against Noel, he pulled in 6 offensive boards.

We also gave up 2 offensive boards after Adams had stopped Harden on switches.

Not saying Steve was great on the glass, but we can't rebound for **** with him off the floor. Basically our bench sucks at everything right now - which is not unusual.

Glad you went back and tracked this. My family was over at our house during the game and my dad pointed out several times that the reason Capela was hurting us was because Adams was on the bench. I was busy drinking beer while half-heartily playing host that I couldn't dedicate a lot of my focus on the game, but I was able to watch the entire 4th quarter uninterrupted and I know Capela got several offensive rebounds early in the 4th with Adams on the bench.


That's actually misleading. The Rockets got 14 2nd chance points with Adams on the floor and just 9 with Adams off the floor. We did better defensive rebounding wise with Adams on the floor, true, but we still allowed them to convert more 2nd chance points than usual. On the season, 2nd chance points allowed with Adams on the floor would be way worse than 30th per 100 possesssions.


Yea that annoys me more than usual that Adams had a bad night on the glass against Capela. Them **** rockets fans will now quote this game forever when the arguement comes up about whos better
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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#144 » by Jstock12 » Wed Dec 26, 2018 7:56 pm

Save that 3PT%... Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine... But I hate this new trend of not even trying to get every possible point. Pretty weird shot selection, since I've seen Westbrook take worse shots than this in the half-court offense. Team had literally nothing to lose by Russ taking this half-court shot. Who knows, maybe if he hits that, the Rockets go to the locker room demoralized and play worse in the second half.

P.S. It's not just Westbrook who does this... There a lot of other players who are saving their percentages, mostly guys in contract years. I hate it.

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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#145 » by ThunderBolt » Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:14 pm

Jstock12 wrote:Save that 3PT%... Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine... But I hate this new trend of not even trying to get every possible point. Pretty weird shot selection, since I've seen Westbrook take worse shots than this in the half-court offense. Team had literally nothing to lose by Russ taking this half-court shot. Who knows, maybe if he hits that, the Rockets go to the locker room demoralized and play worse in the second half.

P.S. It's not just Westbrook who does this... There a lot of other players who are saving their percentages, mostly guys in contract years. I hate it.

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Yea or you see them intentionally shoot it just a split second afterwards to make it look like they tried but just couldn't manage to get it off on time.
bisme37 wrote:If there were magnets in basketballs so strong they changed the path of the ball as it flew through the air, wouldn't the ball then stick magnetically to the rim when it got there?
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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#146 » by getrichordie » Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:55 pm

Jstock12 wrote:Save that 3PT%... Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine... But I hate this new trend of not even trying to get every possible point. Pretty weird shot selection, since I've seen Westbrook take worse shots than this in the half-court offense. Team had literally nothing to lose by Russ taking this half-court shot. Who knows, maybe if he hits that, the Rockets go to the locker room demoralized and play worse in the second half.

P.S. It's not just Westbrook who does this... There a lot of other players who are saving their percentages, mostly guys in contract years. I hate it.

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Eh. I’m not sure it’s Westbrook saving his %s. I don’t think that’s the thought process there. I think it’s probably more of, “I’m exhausted and it’s most likely not going in anyway.”


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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#147 » by Jstock12 » Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:31 pm

getrichordie wrote:
Jstock12 wrote:Save that 3PT%... Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine... But I hate this new trend of not even trying to get every possible point. Pretty weird shot selection, since I've seen Westbrook take worse shots than this in the half-court offense. Team had literally nothing to lose by Russ taking this half-court shot. Who knows, maybe if he hits that, the Rockets go to the locker room demoralized and play worse in the second half.

P.S. It's not just Westbrook who does this... There a lot of other players who are saving their percentages, mostly guys in contract years. I hate it.

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Eh. I’m not sure it’s Westbrook saving his %s. I don’t think that’s the thought process there. I think it’s probably more of, “I’m exhausted and it’s most likely not going in anyway.”


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Well, if he's exhausted after 2 quarters midway into the regular season, then that is certainly a bigger problem than protecting a percentage.
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12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#148 » by getrichordie » Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:55 pm

Jstock12 wrote:
getrichordie wrote:
Jstock12 wrote:Save that 3PT%... Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine... But I hate this new trend of not even trying to get every possible point. Pretty weird shot selection, since I've seen Westbrook take worse shots than this in the half-court offense. Team had literally nothing to lose by Russ taking this half-court shot. Who knows, maybe if he hits that, the Rockets go to the locker room demoralized and play worse in the second half.

P.S. It's not just Westbrook who does this... There a lot of other players who are saving their percentages, mostly guys in contract years. I hate it.

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Eh. I’m not sure it’s Westbrook saving his %s. I don’t think that’s the thought process there. I think it’s probably more of, “I’m exhausted and it’s most likely not going in anyway.”


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Well, if he's exhausted after 2 quarters midway into the regular season, then that is certainly a bigger problem than protecting a percentage.


I agree. If Russ is “coasting” I think it’s because he’s starting to feel the minutes. I forget which season it was that LeBron James was said to be “coasting,” but when he was coasting, he could at least turn it on and take over in late game situations. We really haven’t seen that from Russ yet.


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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#149 » by thekaoswithin » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:54 am

getrichordie wrote:
Jstock12 wrote:
getrichordie wrote:
Eh. I’m not sure it’s Westbrook saving his %s. I don’t think that’s the thought process there. I think it’s probably more of, “I’m exhausted and it’s most likely not going in anyway.”


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Well, if he's exhausted after 2 quarters midway into the regular season, then that is certainly a bigger problem than protecting a percentage.


I agree. If Russ is “coasting” I think it’s because he’s starting to feel the minutes. I forget which season it was that LeBron James was said to be “coasting,” but when he was coasting, he could at least turn it on and take over in late game situations. We really haven’t seen that from Russ yet.


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In what way did he not 'turn it on' for the 4th quarter? Dude was exceptional.
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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#150 » by getrichordie » Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:58 am

thekaoswithin wrote:
getrichordie wrote:
Jstock12 wrote:
Well, if he's exhausted after 2 quarters midway into the regular season, then that is certainly a bigger problem than protecting a percentage.


I agree. If Russ is “coasting” I think it’s because he’s starting to feel the minutes. I forget which season it was that LeBron James was said to be “coasting,” but when he was coasting, he could at least turn it on and take over in late game situations. We really haven’t seen that from Russ yet.


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In what way did he not 'turn it on' for the 4th quarter? Dude was exceptional.


Who? Russ was exceptional in the 4th quarter of the Rockets game? Turning it on in the 4th and being exceptional are two different things.


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Re: 12/25 | G33: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets - 2PM CST 

Post#151 » by thekaoswithin » Thu Dec 27, 2018 1:28 pm

getrichordie wrote:
thekaoswithin wrote:
getrichordie wrote:
I agree. If Russ is “coasting” I think it’s because he’s starting to feel the minutes. I forget which season it was that LeBron James was said to be “coasting,” but when he was coasting, he could at least turn it on and take over in late game situations. We really haven’t seen that from Russ yet.


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In what way did he not 'turn it on' for the 4th quarter? Dude was exceptional.


Who? Russ was exceptional in the 4th quarter of the Rockets game? Turning it on in the 4th and being exceptional are two different things.


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Both.

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